While in the Java Chatterbox, ThePope mentioned the klompen dance, which reminded me of a style of dancing we had in upstate New York, called a clog dance. This was many years ago and I doubt that there is anyone up there who knows how to do it now. Unlike the Dutch who klompen in wooden shoes, our clog dancers didn't wear special shoes, as I recall. But, the floor boards were loose so that they rattled with the stamping feet. The object was to stay pretty much in one place, with the arms held at the side while beating out complicated rhythms with the feet. The music, of course, was live and quite lively.

The only thing I've seen like it is the Irish jig, but of course the music was quite different. In Appalachia there is a style of dancing called flatfooting, which is sometimes called buck dancing, or step dancing. It developed from an informal fusion between the music and dance of Native Americans and African slaves with that of English, Irish, and Scottish immigrants.

Clog dancing came into its own when Frederick Ashton's he included a clog dance in his production of La Fille mal Gardée in 1960. It subsequently faded back into near oblivion from which it has been saved by small groups of amateur enthusiasts throughout this country and the British Isles. There are even clog dancing groups in Japan.

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